RESUMEN
This prospective study was performed to evaluate the effect of systemic chemotherapy on skeletal metastases in breast cancer patients. Serum CA15-3 concentration was determined in 86 metastatic breast cancer patients in bone and correlated to whole skeletal scintigraphy. Fifteen patients with a normal level of CA15-3 [<28 u/ml] were excluded from the study. Also, a control group of 50 breast cancer patients after radical mastectomy with no evidence of local or metastatic deposits were also subjected to bone scintigraphy and serum CA15-3 concentration. Metastatic patients were classified into five groups according to the findings of bone scan from M0 [normal bone scan] to M4 [superscan]. This study suggested that CA15-3 could be a complementary marker in evaluating patients with metastatic breast cancer to bone before and shortly after initiating chemotherapy. It has the advantage of differentiating between disease progression and flare reaction